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Dr. William Hawkins Vardon

Family: son of Thomas Vardon
Born: 1834
Died: 1886, Jan 9
Municipality: Wellesley
Years on local council: 1865-8 Reeve
Years on County Council: 1865 1866 Warden 1867 1868
Occupation: Physician
Origin: Pickering Township
Spouse: Margaret Ann Spears (d. April 4, 1866); Elvina Whiting
Children: Thomas Rolph and daughter (1st marriage); Nellie (2nd marriage)
Religion: Methodist
Notes:
  • 1862 - graduated with a medical degree from Victoria College, Cobourg
  • 1856-1871 - practised in Hawksville, the earliest known doctor there, and also Waterloo County coroner
  • 1871-73 - lived in Waterloo
  • 1873-moved to Galt where two years later the Vardons separated and Dr Vardon tried three times to kidnap his younger daughter. In April 1878 he was awarded custody of the child, but Nellie slipped out the back door.
  • 1880-5 month partnership with Dr Radford in Galt - ended when Radford left for Winnipeg
  • 1885-admitted to the Toronto Asylum, violently disturbed., by the use of narcotics
  • "skilful and daring in his profession, he soon achieved great success; but his domestic relations were not happy, and gradually laid the foundation for that break up of his mind which eventually led to his confinement in the asylum...possessed of a hearty but somewhat brusque manner, he made many friends who deeply deplore the sad ending of a life at one time so full of promise" (obituary Galt Reporter);
  • "He was a man of great natural shrewdness, a born politician and a skillful practitioner" (obituary Dumfries Reformer)
Sources: WHS1987 75:93-6; obituary Galt Reporter 5/1/1886; obituary Dumfries Reformer 14/1/1886

This information is excerpted from: "Waterloo County Councillors: A Collective Biography," researched and complied by Elizabeth Bloomfield and Linda Foster. (c) 1995 Caribou Imprints. It is reproduced by permission of Dr. Bloomfield.    ​The full text of the book can be seen here. ​